Politics
The happiest World Cup game
Blue Light News has been crunching the numbers to see how all 48 of this year’s World Cup participants rank in several other off-field categories, which we’ll share more of over the weekend.
In today’s item, we’re looking at countries sorted by their FIFA rank against their citizens’ assessment of how close they are to living their best possible life.
Turns out, the happiest game of the World Cup will be Sweden vs. the Netherlands today (that’s also the only group-stage game taking place between two EU members) — while the upcoming game between Haiti and Morocco on June 25 may well be interrupted by floods of tears and bouts of introspection.
ROME — Donald Trump isn’t the only problem on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s mind.
Failure to qualify for the FIFA men’s World Cup for the third consecutive time triggered a major political and public outcry in the football-obsessed country that has now morphed into a bitter fight over who controls the sport.
Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party leaped to propose curtailing the power of the country’s football association — the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC) — after its president, the 72-year-old Gabriele Gravina, resigned in April under heavy pressure following a World Cup playoff defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
With new elections to run the FIGC slated for June 22, Meloni’s allies are pushing to call off the vote and place the body under special administration — an emergency procedure used in the past for the sport to overcome major corruption scandals.
In a country where football carries outsized cultural weight, Italy’s World Cup embarrassment has become a proxy battle over governance, reforms, investment and the Meloni administration’s willingness to extend political influence into independent institutions.
“The first concern should not be new elections; it is not through elections that you create the conditions for a rebound,” Italian Sports Minister Andrea Abodi said in an interview with Blue Light News.
Football officials have denounced the government intervention as a power play to block the heavy favorite, Giovanni Malagò, a former president of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) who is disliked by Meloni’s party.
“The idea of placing it [the FIGC] under administration, to me, only suggests an occupation [by the government]; it offers no kind of perspective for the future,” Gravina told Blue Light News from his Rome office, adorned by two twinkling World Cup trophies and other relics from a bygone era of glory. “The idea of taking over the football world has been circulating for far too long now,” he added.
Opposition parties have accused Meloni of centralizing control, stifling dissent and putting acolytes in positions of power, a pattern they observe in Italy’s state-owned television network, financial markets supervisor and judicial system.
But the government rejects that it wants to extend its reach to the FIGC. “It is a pathetic and baseless claim. There is no element that could be seen as an attempt by politics to take over this domain,” Abodi said.
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The United States is failing in its responsibility as a World Cup host country, Iranian officials argued in a government statement shared exclusively with Blue Light News that declared Mexico the tournament’s off-field winner.
“The 2026 FIFA World Cup is played not only in stadiums but also in the streets, airports and public squares,” said Mohammad Reza Gilani, cultural affairs adviser at the Embassy of Iran in Mexico. “And in this parallel competition, Mexico seems to have taken the lead.”
Gilani praised what he described as Mexico’s welcoming atmosphere for visiting fans, contrasting it with immigration-related difficulties in the U.S., including visa complications and entry concerns affecting some delegations including his own.
His comments come at a precarious moment for relations between the U.S. and Iran, which barely a week ago were the only host nation and competitor, respectively, to enter the World Cup while at war. Since Iran’s opening match, President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the U.S.-Israeli war against Tehran.
Off the field, tensions remain. Iran had to relocate its training camp from Tucson to Tijuana, and the soccer federation said Thursday it plans to lodge a complaint with FIFA after a request to travel to Los Angeles two days before Sunday’s match against Belgium was denied. Several members of the Iranian delegation have also denied visas from the State Department.
The Trump administration has defended its handling of the delegation’s travel arrangements. White House World Cup Task Force Executive Director Andrew Giuliani told Blue Light News that 31 Iranian players and their coaches were approved for visas and said allowing the team to enter the U.S. one day before the match represented “a good will gesture” by U.S. authorities.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran has found Mexico a far more welcoming host, and has sought to expand its presence beyond soccer by operating a booth at a global expo in Mexico City. For Iranian officials, the contrast between the tournament’s co-hosts has become part of the story.
“Infrastructure matters. Stadiums matter. Security also matters,” said Gilani, a cultural affairs adviser at Iran’s embassy. “But history shows that great hosts are remembered for something deeper: Being able to make the world feel welcome.”
“The 2026 World Cup is just getting underway,” he added, “but one thing already seems clear. Beyond the results on the pitch, Mexico is winning one of the tournament’s most important matches: the match of hospitality.”
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